Posted by: John (rvanredick@yahoo.com) on Sun Jun 28 20:08:40 2009

> > My 8-year old makes consistent contact (in fact, he hasn't struck out once this season in over 30 ABs) but lately, he's been getting jammed a lot. Aside from perhaps swinging at pitches too close to his hands (tough for me to tell from my vantage point), what other causes could there be? Thanks.
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> Getting jammed occasionally is evidence of good hitting because he is waiting on the ball; however, it must be happening more than just occasionally. He is probably dragging his bat head too much so explain that he needs to get his bathead around. Easiest thing if he is a right or left hander is to tell him to try to hit the ball hard as close as he can to the second base bag.

Thanks, Torque. So, try to have him hit the ball up the middle then. He had a game since I posted that question...had him stand off the plate a bit more and in 3 ABs he hit the ball on the barrel each time. Problem is, only one of those was a good, solid hit. He popped up once. He didn't uppercut it, but the ball went off the top of the bat as opposed to hitting it squarely. Any tips for getting him to hit it in the middle of the barrel more?